A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Summary

Transported 1300 years into the past, Connecticut engineer Hank Morgan finds himself in Camelot, the legendary home of King Arthur and his fabled Knights of the Round Table. Becoming a friend and adviser to the King, Hank encounters Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, and all the other characters from Arthurian legend. As he attempts to take on the task of analyzing the problems of their time, he tries to share his knowledge from the future in order to modernize, Americanize, and improve the lives of the people he meets.

Reviews

Pretty clear where "Army of Darkness" got some inspiration. Don't worry, there is next to no similarities except for conceptual similarities. This was a really good book. Enjoyable to listen to and think about. I really liked the distinction that was made between men and Men. Good points on the importance of free thought, fairness, and the idea that institutions should serve mankind instead of the other way around.

This was good fun and had a surprising amount of social commentary whenever Hank (the Boss) Morgan was trying to educate his 6th century Britons on the evils of slavery, class structures and religious intolerance. Although you'll think of it all as a fantasy dream, the ending actually has plausible magician-like twist that provides an explanation for the "time forward" part of the trip.You of course have to suspend belief that a late 19th century American would be speaking any kind of a language that 6th century Britons would have understood. The compromise is that most speak a Le Morte D' Arthur kind of English and Hank every once and while has to explain his futuristic words in plain terms.I listened to the 2017 Audible Audio edition which had an excellent narration by Nick Offerman.

The United States in the 19th century. Hartford, Connecticut. Hank Morgan receives a blow to the head and is suddenly and inexplicably transported to 6th-century England. After this time travel, Hank Morgan, still equipped with his 19th-century knowlege, starts an adventure through medieval England. Captured and brought to King Arhtur's court he is sentenced to burn at the stake. However, Hank Morgan manages to escape his fate by divining a solar eclipse, which, regarding the circumstances, is not such a big feat. Much to the chagrin of the greatest magician of England, the famous Merlin, Morgan manages to become the chief minister to King Arthur and is henceforth known and feared as 'The Boss' because of his magical capabilities. Living up to his position, Hank Morgan slowly starts to institute changes in a society that can only seem totally backward to his 19th-century eyes. His main goals throughout the novel are to diminish the power and influence of the church, to abolish the insitution of knight-errantry, to introduce the democratic republic as a new system of government, and, on a more personal level, to publicly make Merlin look like a fool whenever he can.As much as this book can be seen as a criticism of monarchy and the strong role of the church, it can be read as a criticism of slavery in the United States. Aristocrats in 6th-century England are compared to slaveholders in America: "The repulsive feature of slavery is the thing, not its name. One needs but to hear an aristocrat speak of the classes that are below him to recognize - and in but indifferently modified measure - the very air and tone of the actual slaveholder; and behind these are the slaveholder's spirit, the slaveholder's blunted feeling. They are the result of the same cause in both cases: the possessor's old and inbred custom of regarding himself as a superior human being." (p. 190)The original illustrations by Daniel Carter Beard underline Twain's criticism throughout the novel and contribute to its satiric tone.Speaking of the humorous and satirical qualities of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arhtur's Court, I much enjoyed the frequent jabs Twain took at different institutions or groups of people. Those parts definitely contributed to an already great reading experience. Read what Mark Twain has to say about the German language when he compares it to 6th-century English:"(...) I was standing in the awful presence of the Mother of the German Language. (...) If words had been water, I had been drowned, sure. She had exactly the German way: whatever was in her mind to be delivered, whether a mere remark, or a sermon, or a cyclopedia, or the history of a war, she would get it into a single sentence or die. Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth."To my mind, Twain's exploration of the possibility of speeding up historical development makes this novel even more valuable. When 19th-century Yankee Hank Morgan tries to use his advanced knowledge of history to do away with monarchy and set up a democratical society, the question arises whether 6th-century England is ready for such a radical change. In the end, Morgan himself has to act as the driving force of revolution only to see his system fail when people fall back to their 6th-century beliefs. The church certainly plays an important role here as a separation of church and state is not yet ingrained in people's minds. Therefore, the experiment of introducing a democratic system in the 6th-century is doomed to fail. Now is it just that mankind is not ready for the change yet and has to exist a couple of centuries longer to recognize the merit of a different system? Or is it the radical and abrupt way in which Hank Morgan approaches his project? In the end, even Hank himself recognizes that with him as a leader in a democratic society nothing much would change as people would regard him as the ruling monarch and 'The Boss'.In conclusion, Mark Twain's novel is a highly enjoyable and highly recommendable read for several reasons, of which I will name the four main ones for me. First, it is a humorous depiction of 6th-century customs, especially knight-errantry. Second, it raises some very interesting questions and makes you rethink the development of different systems of government. Third, Beard's illustrations fit perfectly to Twain's narrative and as Twain said himself "[Beard ] not only illustrates the text but he illustrates my thoughts". Fourth, the narrative of the Yankee's adventure's in King Arthur's court are highly readable and reminded me somewhat of the adventures of Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote, which I loved. All in all, 4.5 stars.

Considering that I am a fan of Mark Twain and that I have a deep and abiding love of all things Arthurian, it's a bit surprising that it took me so long to read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The story is bookended by Mark Twain himself describing his encounter with Hank Morgan, the titular Yankee, who gives Twain a manuscript of his experience in 6th-century England--King Arthur's England. Hank is a 19th-century man just like Twain but one day finds himself in the 6th Century and promptly captured by Sir Kay. He is thrown in prison and sentenced to death, but by learning the date, he knows that a solar eclipse will occur the following day and uses this knowledge to position himself as a great wizard. Merlin is naturally miffed, and the two are rivals from that time forward.Through his wisdom and influence upon King Arthur and the nation, he earns the title of The Boss. He cares nothing for the Temporal Prime Directive and sets about creating his own pocket of the 19th century within the 6th. He establishes a newspaper, a telephone service, gun factories, a standing army, a navy, sandwich board advertising, and many more innovations. All throughout The Boss displays a mixture of disdain and amusement toward the people and customs around him. I had hoped that he might be brought down a peg or two for his hubris, but apparently this wasn't that sort of story. His commentary is often funny though, making this a bit like RiffTrax: King Arthur edition. As some of the jokes are about the way that the people of Arthur's England talk (based on the way that medieval writers wrote), it's probably funnier if you're already familiar with the medieval style of narration in these sort of tales of chivalry. Twain even lifts whole sections of description directly from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur.The Boss is a hard character to like, in that he enjoys humiliating people and is rarely forgiving of how the people of the 6th century think and believe, given their education, or lack thereof. That said, I still enjoyed the book. Near the end, when it came to describing the events that led to King Arthur's death (despite the fact that it took a mere two pages to do so and it generally takes several chapters in most Arthurian tales), I couldn't help but be caught up in the emotion of it all. That part of Arthur's story always gets to me though, perhaps because my first introduction to Arthurian literature was part of a packet handed out by my Brit Lit teacher in high school: the final chapter of T.H. White's The Once and Future King, in which the old King thinks back on his life, his achievements and failures, and all that has led up to this final battle, which he knows he will not survive. It breaks my heart every time. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court can be a little dense at times, but I definitely recommend it to anyone wishing to read a book that pokes fun at the oft-times serious genre of medieval romance.

Like most readers, I everything I knew about this book came from pop-culture references. I was curious going into out the premise could be dragged out so long.Dragged is a poor word-choice in this case, as it didn't drag at all. The observations by both the main character those expected to be picked up by the reader were amusing and apt. I really enjoyed this - far moreso than I normally do with Twain's writing.

Like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Connecticut Yankee uses the literary and historical past to satirize the idealization of the medieval period and the fictions of Sir Walter Scott, which Twain held responsible for the willingness of the South to enter the failed cause of the Civil War. Hank Morgan works in an arms factory in modern day Hartford, Connecticut, but a blow to the head sends him back into the world of Camelot and King Arthur. Rather than idyllic, the world into which Hank enters reeks of superstition, cruelty, poverty, misery, and moral chaos, including slavery. The drama unfolds as the skill of Hank in manipulating physical reality transforms him into a demi-god, which in turns sparks his desire to eliminate, through all means necessary, the superstitious world that confronts him. This takes the form of a total war that before its time anticipates the carnage of WWI and the outcome of the clash between psychological ignorance and belief and modern scientific and technological "wizardry." Although the tone is occasionally clumsy, and although the book cannot hold a candle to masterpieces by Twain such as Huckleberry Finn or The Mysterious Stranger, Connecticut Yankee contains one passage, about the nastiness of attempting to live inside armor that is so hilarious it brings tears to the eyes.

I'm going to disagree with the other reviewers here and say that I found A Connecticut Yankee largely disappointing. It's been said that it marks the transition from Twain as an idealist to Twain as disillusioned. I found him already on the latter side of that hill, and the text often came across as bitter and annoyed and not very funny, which isn't good since it's supposed to be a satire. Twain apparently blamed Sir Walter Scott for the Civil War because the South fell in love with chivalry as represented in his works, and so he was, at least in part, criticizing that. But that in itself tells me how mistaken he was, because I can't see Sir Walter Scott, over in Scotland, having much to do with the Civil War in the United States.Now, as to Huck Finn...I found it a hell of a lot better work.

I enjoy Mark Twain's writing, but this book was so laden with anti-Catholic bias and historically inaccurate attacks on the Church and on the society of the Middle Ages that I found it totally unpalatable. I was very disappointed - even disgusted - by this book. I didn't finish reading it.

A delightful humorous account of time travel by Mark Twain. Reading a work from the 1880's by an author writing in the "style" of England in the 6th Century was at times difficult to understand. Twain's humor shielded in serious dialog made it even more difficult. But nonetheless I did enjoy reading Twain's views on slavery, economy, health, chivalry, and religion from eyes that had just seen the bloody American Civil War. The accounts of his character hank's interactions of slavery were heart wrenching as well as the stories of poverty, illness and injustice. Twain's goal in this work was to ridicule chivalry, some say because of Southern attitudes towards chivalry during the war. I expected many great quotes, but only this one stood out, "My acquaintance smiled - not a modern smile, but one that must have gone out of general use many, many centuries ago." (p, 16) And one more, Hank has just met Clarance who informs hank he is a page, "Go 'long, I said; "you ain't more than a paragraph." (p.28)01-2010

Overall I found this disappointing. It had a few good bits in it, where the author/narrator rails against oppression and injustice and a few moving and horrifying scenes depicting said oppression and injustice. However, these were surrounded by oceans of silliness in which the author is preoccupied with reproducing the details, both good and bad, of 19th century American society into 6th century England (of course, it is not really 6th century England, as it is the Thomas Malory depiction of King Arthur in the style of high Medieval chivalry). Despite his self-proclaimed lofty ideals and opposition to the violence of the era, the narrator uses violence himself and casually causes the deaths of 25,000 knights in the final battle. This may be authorial comment on 19th century white American treatment of the native American and Black populations, but I rather doubt it - it all seems too trivial to be satirical.

While I admit there were several funny scenes in this book, overall it is bitter and boring. Twain was angry at the Catholic Church at this time and it shows. The premise is awesome, but it needed to be much shorter.

A time travel fantasy written before that genre was terribly popular. Ah, lack a me. I wish I hadn't reread this. The suck fairy has robbed my memory of the fun of this story. I listened to the audio version, with William Dufris as the narrator. Although I didn't enjoy a couple of his characterizations, he was a fine reader, so I don't believe the suck can be attributed to him. What ruined this for me, was the bombardment of ranting. I don't remember that from my first read (I was in my early twenties then). Possibly because I skimmed it? Also, I didn't like The Boss. He was the epitome of the "Ugly American Abroad." He was judgmental, believing that he was the only one with intelligence or ideas worth having, and his way was the only right way. Did Twain do this on purpose, to illustrate the ugly American? If so, he did a masterful job, but I won't ever need to read this again.For positive notes, oh, no, I can't think of any. Even the humor didn't amuse me this time. Ah well.

Not at all the Saturday afternoon feature starring Bing Crosby. I was amazed at the dissimilarity. Here, the Yankee so improves Camelot with the inventions of the nineteenth century that he works a revolution. Lancelot is not a lout! This fantasy is well done and very much more entertaining than a darkened cinema and unreal colors on the screen.

I don't know why this book doesn't rank higher among the classics & isn't discussed more. Twain manages to highlight more of our human & modern society's ills & graces than any other book I've read. This is not just a man out of his time, but a journey of discovering just how large, fast changes, seemingly made for the best, can actually be horrifying with unforeseen consequences. (Sound familiar? Haven't we all been talking about how technology & the Internet has changed our lives so much recently?)

Twain somehow manages to cover it all in this fairly short book; the justice system, technology, human rights, & war. Was he a time traveler himself? He first published this book in 1872, but the final battle is eerily reminiscent of World War I which took place over 3 decades later.

Twain's themes are practically timeless, as often hilarious as they are poignant. The section where Hank, the Connecticut Yankee, is traveling with Arthur incognito is one of my favorites. The Yankee might be out of place, but Arthur is even more so in his own time & kingdom simply due to his status.

The writing style takes a bit of getting used to, but is wonderful, giving even Shakespeare a run for his money. Take this gem:I passed them at a rattling gait, and as I went by I flung out a hair-lifting soul-scorching thirteen-jointed insult which made the king's effort poor and cheap by comparison. I got it out of the nineteenth century where they know how.

The story isn't perfect. Characters were too often caricatures, common to Twain's writing, but he uses this to great effect when circumstance suddenly twists. There was quite a bit of convenience to the plot, but again this is used to make his points. Overall it is an amazing read & one that should be hauled out every decade or so & reviewed.

Clever as hell. Twain always makes you think. The book is immersive, having the proper language and turns of phrases to pull one into the world. Really it would take someone of Twain's intelligence to pull off such an effort. Maybe not a big deal in his day, but in today's world, this book would have been impossible: today every one runs at an even keel that someone about 50 years ago set at "dumb". (As proof of this I ask you to consider whether Stieg Larsson or Stephanie Meyer could have written a work comparable to any of Twain's works)

Of course I detest Twain's philosophy, but this book is a flushing of ideas and absurdities, and in someway he makes light of his own world view making them look quite ridiculous when you read it with the eye of one who has observed the last 100 years of world history.

A time travel book, the first? Clemens' view of the 6th century from the 19th is amazing. And, I was in awe that the words he used in the 19th century are good in the 21st...slang for example. This is really a story of about the biggest problems Mark Twain observed in his time period, including slavery, abuses of political power, unchecked factory growth, child labor, and frightening new war technology. And,the final battle scene aptly predicts the great war (WWI). All of it applied with wit!

Mark Twain was considered a humorist during his lifetime and this book definitely shows his talent in that area. As the reader progresses through the adventure of Hank also known as "The Boss" we see items from the "future" being incorporated into the 6th century environment - knight's armor used as advertising billboards, newspaper (when most residents couldn't read), schools and factories.Slavery was a blatant issue throughout with both the Boss and Arthur ending the Slave market at one time. But the amusing details that Twain adds - Child's Name being HelloCentral, cycling knights instead of riding horses, pipe smoking seeming to be a dragon - all has the reader laughing and smiling throughout. I'm usually not a big fan of Classics, but this one was fun!

If you've only seen the Danny Kay adaptation, then don't judge this book by its movie. The novel is darker and deeper, with an outcome as inevitable as it is unlikely. Twain's witty take on the now classic, even cliched, time traveller tale is American Science Fiction at its best.

A Yankee goes back in time when he gets in the head. He works to transform Arthur's England to make it democratic and better. He succeeds until the King dies, then everything has to be destroyed to keep things from being used against them. This is a satire on many things and is worthy of more discussion than I am giving it!

It was good to get my teeth into this, having meant to read it for a long time. I enjoyed the humour, and the political commentary, despite not agreeing with it and preferring (with a somewhat guilty pleasure) the shining chivalric version of Camelot to the dirt, ignorance and stupidity of this world. Parts of it felt very ranty and not like a story at all -- like the story was a vehicle for the political rants. Which is the way some authors work, and I suspect I'll find it in at least some of Twain's other work, when I revisit -- as a child, I didn't see it that way, but children tend not to.

There's lots of amusing ideas, and I kinda wish this was on my Arthurian Lit course to discuss -- I don't think it is, but you never know, I still might be able to write an essay on it...

It's definitely not so much about Arthur/Camelot as it is about Twain's own day, though. Don't be deceived.

What happens when a man from 19th century Connecticut suddenly finds himself in the world of King Arthur? He tries to modernize the place, of course. It's a quite humorous look at a man who can outperform the magician Merlin by equipping them with useful gadgets like telephones. He even trains the armed forces with 19th century weaponry. I'm not a huge fan of time travel stories, but this one was just absurd enough to keep me laughing. Twain's imagination in this novel is certainly one of the things that probably endeared him so much as a 19th century humorist. I suspect that a 21st century Connecticut Yankee would be burned at the stake as a witch when he came up with the Internet and other inventions that have transpired in the 125 years or so since the writing of this work.